Thoughts on finding work that matters, becoming a Linchpin, and making the world a better place

Things I Thought Were Awesome This Week (4.14.14 Edition)

Each week, I read, watch, listen to and buy a ton of awesome stuff. I regularly ask others what they’re enjoying reading, watching, or listening to, so this is my way of answering that question on a weekly basis. I hope it will become something you look forward to every week and a way to introduce you to interesting/awesome stuff you wouldn’t otherwise find on your own. In return, I hope you’ll share some equally awesome things that you’re finding out there in the wild.

Once I have BarrettBrooks.com complete, this weekly article will become a newsletter, but for now I’m publishing it here to see what you think. I’d love your feedback and thoughts on it.

A couple things I plan to include in each edition:

An article or three

A podcast episode or two

A video or two

A book I’ve finished and enjoyed

A hip hop song or two that I’m enjoying (Fair Warning: I have what some would consider a terrible taste in music. Nearly everything I listen to has a parental advisory label on it, but hey, I grew up in a very diverse school system and I love hip hop.)

Physical products I’m using and loving

Apps or software that are positively affecting the way I work/live/play

So, here’s this week’s list. I would expect it to get prettier in newsletter form, but for now this is it.

Articles

I joined the Fizzle Co team this week, and it’s been a blast. Chase, one of three cofounders of Fizzle, wrote an excellent post based on a Paul Graham quote. It’s all about what it takes to get a business started by focusing on an incredibly small number of customers.

I came across this article this week and I couldn’t help but think that it aligns directly with my experience between shutting Living for Monday down and joining the Fizzle team. Seth makes the case that if you’ll be looking for a job in a year, that process actually starts now. Same for making a sale, etc.

Videos

So often as entrepreneurs and marketers we think we want our customers / users to love us and to love our product. They should be raving fans of us! And yet what really make a customer promote us over time is when we focus on making them awesome at whatever they want to achieve. (Shared with me by Chase Reeves)

A good buddy of mine sent me this one and said it was the most well prepared, well delivered TED talk he had ever seen. The topic sounded compelling, the slides were beautiful, and, yes, the delivery was great. But the part that was so powerful was how resonant the message was. He makes a case for why we need to stop demonizing charity for overhead and starting thinking differently about our giving. And I thought he made a pretty darn compelling case. (Shared with me by Nick Toomey)

Books

A delightful and easy read from the cofounder of Twitter. He’s got a quirky, amusing writing style and shares so much of the Twitter history that we wouldn’t see from the street. I got through this one quick, and if you’re big on startups, I think you’ll enjoy this first person memoir.

Apps

Incredible app. This app allowed me to catalogue, organize, and alphabetize my entire library of 300+ books in just one day. You download the app, it activates your computer camera, you hold your books’ bar codes to the camera, and it adds the book (and all its details) to your library in the app. (Shared with me by Josh Winkles via my friend Josh Long)

Physical Products

If you’re big on organic foods and paying close attention to what you put in or on your body, then you’ll love this deodorant. most organic, all natural deodorants do a really poor job of being a good deodorant throughout the day. This one, however, smells good and lasts throughout the day.

Hip Hop Song of the Week

A strong beat that reminds me of old school Dr. Dre. Schoolboy Q has an interesting style that take a bit of getting used to, but if you’re a big hip hop fan, I think you’ll enjoy his stuff if you haven’t yet heard it. This one in particular features Kendrick Lamar, who is another of my favorite artists right now.

So that’s it, Things I Thought Were Awesome during the week of 4.14.14. Let me know what you think and if you’d like me to continue writing this each week. Oh, and if you’ve read, watched, listened to, or bought something interesting this week, share it in the comments.